This was on the back page of today’s Metro New York (a free daily paper):
There’s been a lot of talk about writers making more money off of in-person appearances as revenue from the actual sale of books declines, but this is the first time I’ve seen such an emphatic portrayal of writers as professional performers. There is absolutely nothing to distinguish this from any number of ads for concerts, solo shows, etc.
Oh wait, yes there is: tickets are $5, or about 10% of what they would be for any other comparable performance at Lincoln Center.
So much for performance as a source of revenue!
Don’t know what the sponsorship deal for this one is, but Harvard Bookstore charges $5 for events held at outside venues. The ticket converts to a $5 off coupon good for 30 days after the event, however.
So it may be to cover costs, rather than directly benefit the author.
Note: I have not been to a Harvard Bookstore event in a few months. Will find out if the policy still stands when I get my China Mieville ticket, however.
This particular event is a charity benefit, which makes it all the more baffling; usually charity events have higher ticket prices. Maybe it’s because they’re YA authors and they want it to be accessible to younger fans?
I covered a Rick Riordan event once for PW. The parents of his fans would be more than willing to shell out much more than $5 to see him, he puts on a great show. And James Patterson has a huge following, it’s not just the YA crowd, even though this book is a YA.
James Patterson is a YA author? Don’t be fooled by the titles…
Patterson is the author of the Maximum Ride YA series.
I had to laugh when I saw this poster with the “LIVE!” after their names. I guess it goes beyond a reading and book signing now, it’s a live event! haha
The bookstores in my community have been doing these sorts of events for years. The author doesn’t usually get paid as it’s part of promoting a new book. The nominal fee is almost always redeemable if you buy one of the presenter’s books. There are few “rockstar” authors (Rowlings, Myers, Munch), but, children’s authors do often get school gigs which pay. Hardly rockstar status, but many of us have found that doing multiple school visits pays the rent more reliably than royalties.
Bookstore events are one thing; Alice Tully Hall is rather another.
But don’t you remember “The Rock Bottom Remainders”, that set of authors — Stephen King, Amy Tan, lots of others — who played rock music for a fee, with proceeds going to various literacy organizations?
That was more than 20 years ago, at an ABA convention.
I was just thinking of that, Andrew! In fact, I clicked on the link to this article to see if they were playing again. :)
This is not exactly new. I’ve been setting up appearances in schools, libraries, conferences, festivals, and workshops for children’s book authors and illustrators for over 20 years. For decades this is how midlist authors were supplementing — and often making a living from — their honorariums, as well as helping their book sales a bit. Now, with so many school budgets cut, midlist authors are limping along as far as appearances go and their books are rapidly going OSI or OP. So there’s really nothing new except that now it’s happening to frontlist authors, too.
It’s an old tradition going back to 19th century. Dickens became such a rock star, for instance. One could also argue that bards were simultaneously authors and performers.